


Trust

by Sheeana



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/pseuds/Sheeana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Barry gets hurt and doesn't heal instantly, he goes to someone he knows he can trust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [failsafe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/failsafe/gifts).



> This is set after the most recent episode (S01E09). I hope you like it! Merry Christmas <3

"Iris," Barry called, wincing as he tapped on the window of the cafe. He pressed his palm against his shoulder to check it again; it came away covered in blood. He was glad that she was the only person inside at this hour of the evening. "Iris…"

"What are _you_ doing here? I told you to stay away from-" Somewhere between starting to snap at him and starting to shut the door in his face, their eyes met. He saw the exact moment when recognition took hold. It played out in slow motion: her eyes widened. Her mouth fell open. Her hand came up to cover it, as slowly as if Barry was watching her move underwater. Her knees buckled.

"Hi, Iris," he said tiredly, as time came rushing back to its normal speed all at once. He held himself up against the door frame, breathing heavily. "It's me."

"Barry! It's you! No, but… you can't be. You _can't_ be." She stood there in the doorway, not budging, her hand still hovering over her mouth. All she seemed to be capable of doing was staring at him. He couldn't exactly blame her.

"Yeah, I am."

" _You're_ the Flash? All this time I was looking for him, and you were right there? How-"

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Barry tried. He really needed her to stop being shocked and realize why he'd come to her, or he might bleed to death right in front of her on the sidewalk. 

"No. No! I don't believe this!"

"Iris, please just listen to me for a second. I really need your-"

"You lied," she said. Her expression was the closest to horrified he'd ever seen in relation to anything he'd done, even closer than at Christmas.

"I know." He closed his eyes for a second, but the image was stuck in his head now. Suddenly his shoulder seemed to matter a whole lot less than it had a few minutes before. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"How could you? You're my best friend. I trusted you! You- wait. Barry, you're bleeding."

With some effort, he opened his eyes again. "That's why I'm here."

"Are you okay?" It was like a switch had flipped. All of her anger was gone, replaced by genuine and obvious concern. She reached out for him, steadying him with her hands at his waist.

"I don't know," he said, sighing in relief as he leaned half against her and half against the door. "It's not healing as fast as it's supposed to."

"What does that mean? 'As fast as it's supposed to'?"

"My speed. The Flash's speed. It makes me heal faster, too." Barry tried to focus on the fact that she hadn't sent him away yet, and not focus on the pain. After living with his speed for awhile, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be in pain for more than a few minutes at a time. It wasn't pleasant.

"So why aren't you?"

"The guy who got me had some kind of sticky goo stuff on his skin. I think it inhibits cellular regeneration. Caitlin would probably know, but... I just... need someone to help me stop the bleeding. I'm sorry for getting you involved. I tried to stay away, like you told me to."

"Why _did_ you come to me?" Iris asked, as she helped him sit down. She knelt in front of him, her hands resting over his knee. One of them twitched, like she wanted to bring it up to touch his cheek.

"I couldn't get to the people I work with, and…" Barry hesitated.

"And?"

"And I trust you."

Iris sighed, closing her eyes in resignation. That was the moment when he knew he was safe.

\---

"Eddie," she said nervously, shifting back and forth on her feet in front of him, her arms crossed. "Um, I know you're supposed to be working tonight, but I think you should leave early and come with me."

"Hey, babe." He looked up from his computer, saw how she was holding herself, and frowned. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No," Iris said. She glanced behind her, then back at him. "Well, yes. But it's going to be okay. I need your help?"

"Anything," Eddie promised. He was already on his feet and following her out of his office, without so much as a second thought.

"You might not say that when you see what it is."

"Iris?" he said, stopping to touch her waist and then lift his hand to her jaw. "I love you. If there's anything wrong, if anything in the world is bothering you, I always want to help."

"I know, and I'm so grateful, it's just that… you should see for yourself," said Iris. She took his hand, trying to stay steady. For her own sake, if nothing else.

"Where are we going?" Eddie asked, compliant.

"Our apartment. Just wait," she said, holding up her hand to forestall his question. "You'll... you'll see."

\---

"Barry." It sounded like all the breath had gone out of Eddie's lungs before he started to say Barry's name, so that it came out as nothing more than a low whisper. The look in his eyes wasn't something Barry ever wanted to see again. Not horrified. Not even shocked. Just empty.

"I'm sorry," was the first desperate thing Barry could think to say, and it didn't make much sense.

"Why did you bring him here? Why did you bring _me_ here?" Barry heard Eddie snapping as if from a thousand miles away. He blinked a few times, trying to clear away the blurriness at the edges of his vision. This felt important enough to cling to consciousness. "Iris, my _job_ is to arrest him on sight!"

"He's my best friend," she said. "He showed up and he was hurt. What was I supposed to do?"

"Why me?"

"You're my boyfriend. I trust you!"

"You brought one of Central City's most wanted into my bedroom!"

"I brought Barry into _our_ bedroom, Eddie, and he's hurt. Does it really matter what he did? He's still Barry. We have to help him."

Fighting wooziness, Barry started to sit up. He pushed himself towards the edge of their bed with his one working arm. "I can go-"

"No, you can't," Iris said sternly. She grabbed his arm before he got anywhere.

"You really can't," said Eddie, his hands up as if in surrender. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and pushed Barry back down - gently. Probably more gently than he deserved. When Eddie's hands started searching around his wound, he bit down on his lip and tried not to groan. "Iris, go to the bathroom and get me some gauze, a wet cloth, and some disinfectant. He's going to be okay."

"Thanks," Barry breathed, letting himself fall back against their pillows. He hoped he wasn't bleeding all over anything too expensive; he didn't exactly have a way to replace it, on his salary.

"This doesn't mean we're okay," Eddie said, like they were just having a normal conversation while he pulled Barry's Flash suit away from his shoulder to get a better look. "It doesn't mean I'm not going to arrest you the moment you get up from this bed."

"I know. I get that."

"Just stop talking," Eddie said tersely, and Barry shut his mouth.

\---

Eddie was the one sitting with Barry when he woke up the next morning. Blinking blearily, Barry obediently lifted his arm when Eddie went to check his shoulder. His head ached, but other than that he felt like he was intact. A glance down told him that the narrow but deep gash finally starting to heal, if not as fast as he would have liked.

"Why did you lie to her?" Eddie asked, breaking the heavy silence hanging between them.

It wasn't the question (or the accusation) that Barry was expecting, and it threw him. "I don't know. I guess-"

"Joe knows."

"Yeah. He knows."

"How long?"

"How long has he known? Pretty much since it started."

"Were you ever planning on telling anyone else?"

"Maybe," said Barry. "I don't know. I have a friend, and he said it was safer."

"Safer?"

"Safer not to tell anyone I…" Barry hesitated. "Anyone I care about."

Eddie laughed. It wasn't a good sound. "Does that include me?"

"Yeah. It includes you."

"Despite your feelings for Iris?"

Barry sighed, lowering his gaze. "Do we have to do this right now?"

"I don't know, Barry! You tell me. Do we have to? Maybe you could keep it a secret from everyone who cares about you for the rest of your life. That sounds like a good plan."

Instead of answering, Barry looked around Eddie's bedroom, his gaze settling nowhere in particular. It was Iris's bedroom now, too. It didn't sting as much as he'd thought it would to realize that.

"You know you two smile the same way?" Eddie said quietly, sounding defeated. "It was the first thing I noticed about you."

Barry's eyes snapped up from the silver knobs on Eddie's dresser, and he tried to figure out if he'd just heard what he thought he'd heard. Exactly none of this was going the way he'd expected it would. Then again, blood loss could probably cause him not to hear things properly. "I never meant for things to get like this. I thought... you'd be mad."

"Of course I'm mad. You lied to her and you lied to me. But I know you're not a bad guy, Barry."

"But I thought-"

"If Barry Allen is the Flash, then obviously I'm missing something," Eddie said, one corner of his mouth quirking slightly. "So you have to tell me what it is, because I want to trust you."

"Eddie," Barry said faintly, staring at him. He'd known Eddie was a good person. Now he understood exactly what Iris saw in him.

"Go ahead. We have all day."

"It's kind of a long story."

Eddie just raised his eyebrows.

"You remember how I got hit by lightning? And I was in a coma for months? When I woke up, I could… do all this." Barry held up his hand and demonstrated by vibrating it really fast, until his fingers started to blur together. He heard Eddie's sharp intake of breath, but tried to ignore it. "I never asked for this, but I'm trying to use it to help people."

"Do you want to know what I think? What I remember?" Eddie asked. He sounded almost calm, but there was a strange note to his voice, like he was holding something back. "What I remember is the Flash nearly beating me to death. Do you remember that?"

"It wasn't me, Eddie," Barry replied, silently pleading with him to understand. "I mean, it was me, but I wasn't me. One of the metahumans had this ability to make people really, really mad. I'm just glad someone stopped me before it got a lot worse."

"'Meta' humans. Joe... said something about that."

"You talked to Joe about- never mind. I'm not the only one who can do... things." Barry made a vague gesture.

"You mean the other one. The man in the yellow suit. That wasn't you." There was no uncertainty or mistrust in Eddie's voice or on his face. Barry didn't know what he'd done to earn so much of the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah, but not just him," he replied. "All those crazy things that keep happening in the city? Those are people like me."

For awhile, Eddie was silent. If he was trying to take it all in at once, then Barry was grateful for the valiant effort. Finally Eddie looked up at him again, and when he did, his expression had changed. Somehow it was more serious and lighter at the same time. "Were you ever going to… I don't know, apologize?"

Barry wanted to look away, but he forced himself to be still. "And say what? You're right. I hurt someone I care about."

"You could start with 'I'm sorry'," Eddie suggested. "We could go from there."

"Eddie," he said, taking a deep breath, "I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, or anyone."

"Okay," Eddie said. "... Okay. That's a start."

Sometimes people surprised Barry. Sometimes in a bad way, but sometimes in a really good way. This was one of those times when he was glad he'd been wrong about someone.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," said Iris, breathless as she set aside her bag on her way into the bedroom. "Is he-?"

"He'll be fine." Eddie caught her elbow and then kissed her cheek, his arm coming up around her waist.

"This is probably my cue to leave," Barry said. He scrambled for the edge of the bed. "I'm not always good at figuring out when that is, but I think right now-"

"Wait, Barry," said Eddie, reaching for his uninjured shoulder while Iris went for his other side, like they'd already discussed this and made up their minds together. "You can stay here for awhile. Until you get back on your feet."

"And then you'll arrest me?" Barry asked dryly, but the dread in his chest was real. His fingers started to fidget; he made them stop.

"That depends."

"On?"

"What you do next."

Barry looked down at his hands, at his feet. He could be gone and halfway across the city in a few seconds if he wanted to be. He didn't want to be. "I'm not sure I deserve you guys," he admitted.

"I'm not sure you do, either," Iris replied. Barry couldn't tell if she was gently teasing or completely serious. Maybe somewhere in between. If she was serious, he deserved it - but he'd take teasing, if she was willing to forgive him enough for it. He'd take anything.

"You're really not going to arrest me?" he asked, glancing at Eddie.

"Don't make me regret it, Allen."

Barry looked down at Eddie's hand, clasping his shoulder even after Barry had given up trying to leave. Then his eyes went to Iris's hand, resting over his knee. "... Wait, what was that you were saying about my smile, Eddie?"

"I said, it's nice," Eddie replied, with at least a hint of the affection his tone usually held with Barry.

"Maybe you're not the only one with a crush, Barry," said Iris, and now Barry knew she was teasing. Even if he couldn't quite meet her eyes yet. His shoulder wasn't the only thing that needed time to heal.

Eddie ran a hand through his hair and exhaled visibly. "Let's just... take it slow. I'm still getting used to the idea of someone I'm supposed to be arresting sleeping in my bedroom. I could lose my job over this."

"You're a good person. You both are," Barry told them warmly, relaxing. "You know, I think my friend was wrong. I think I'm glad I have someone to back me up."


End file.
